Feeling squeamish at the reptile show

This weekend, we met one of Oliver's friends at the playground for a playdate. While we were there, his friend's mom invited us to join them at a reptile and amphibian show that afternoon. I would have preferred not to be in a room full of squirmy, jumpy, slimy things, but once Oliver found out, of course we had to go! :-)

Right when we walked in, there were two long tables with rows and rows of small deli containers. Inside the deli containers were little snakes. They were all so beautiful and incredibly brightly colored. I loved looking at all of the different patterns and colors.

Little, expensive snakes. Very pretty, but . . . eww.

Baby turtles! They were SO cute. 

There were a lot of booths where the kids could hold some of the animals. Here's a picture of Anna holding some kind of lizard (wearing a harness. :-))

Here's my pretty girl, very excitedly wearing a snake. :-)

Oliver's turn! :-)

These next three pictures are so funny. Oliver wanted to wear a different snake, and right after it was draped on his neck, the snake started to wrap itself around his mouth and neck, and Oliver started freaking out. (He wasn't in any danger of course.) It was so funny! 

Some of the animals were not slimy, jumpy, or slithery, like this adorable baby hedgehog that Anna is holding.  

But most of the animals gave me the heebie jeebies, like this display with baby pythons hatching from eggs. GROSSSSSS. YUCK.

And, of course they had to have snake food available for sale, like these tiny, newborn rats. I was torn between feeling bad for them, and feeling grossed out because . . . well, they're RATS. 

Surprisingly, Buttercup liked holding the baby rats the best! 

I would like to say that this was a fun outing, but I mostly felt sick to my stomach the whole time. The kids really enjoyed it though! :-)

Easter egg hunt

This morning we had our egg hunt at home!  Oliver and Buttercup were so excited and couldn't wait until it was time to get started. This year we decided to do 3 separate egg hunts for the kids. We started with Theodore first, and he was so excited to hold his basket that at first he didn't even care about looking for eggs. :-)  

We put his eggs out in the open, but he needed some help from his sweet big brother to find the last two. :-)

After Theodore found all of his eggs, it was Tootie's turn! She made short work of hers, although she did need some help finding a few of them. :-) (I don't know why I have so few pictures of her!)

Then it was Oliver's turn. Dennis and Granddaddy hid them very well and made him work for his eggs! It's fun that we get to use good hiding places for him. :-)

Toward the end of the egg hunt, I noticed a ladybug in the grass. Theodore came over to investigate it and poked it with his chubby little finger . . . 

. . . and then he stomped on it. :-/

Summertime fun in the backyard

We have been having such a fun summer! Lots of summery outings (like swimming, train rides at the park, going to get snowballs, playing at splash pads, etc) but also lots of fun times in the backyard. Summer is the perfect time for . . .


. . . dirty feet

. . . swinging in swimsuits

. . . playing in the pool

. . . having long conversations under a shady tree

. . . looking for bugs 

. . . making a shelter

. . . making a "cake" with mud and grass 

. . . and playing in the dirt!

Hooray for summer!

Boys and sleepovers

Oliver had his first sleepover at a friend's house last night. His friend has 2 sisters and, according to his mom, was desperate for some boy time. The friend lives near a different creek (the creek actually flows through their back yard, how fun!), and the boys did lots of exploring and climbing outside, looked for bugs, played spies, and just had a great time in general. 

(Proud mama note: my friend had nothing but great things to say about Oliver's behavior and manners! What a sweet boy. :-))

Oliver came home today full of stories of the fun adventures he and his friend had. He also came home full of mud (from making and camping in a tree fort), and with this little guy that he found in the tree fort:    

Oliver asked if we could bring it home and keep it in his room. My response: No, not while you're 5 1/2 and you share a room with a 3 1/2 year old. Because we all know what would happen! 

So we compromised . . . he could bring it home, and leave it on the kitchen counter until his daddy gets home from work to see it. And then we will release it into the back yard. :-)  

(Doesn't it look scared? Obviously it doesn't want to be in our house either!)

Drawing, running, and catching bugs

We haven't been up to too much lately. Not in the way of our regular adventures, anyway. Both of the big kids had short-lived viruses last week, so we mostly hung out and played at home, which was really fun! My favorite kind of day is one where we play at home, get lots of outside time running around in the yard, and don't go anywhere, other than walking to a park or playground. It's not so easy to stay at home so often now that there are 3 little people in our house, so I really enjoy it when it happens. :-) (I also really enjoy it when all 3 kids take a tandem nap, which happened 3 days in a row last week! I'm not holding my breath that it will ever happen again. :-))

These days, the kids love to run on the sidewalk outside our house with their babies in their strollers. Here's Buttercup in action, wearing her favorite running outfit--Oliver's old Thomas shirt and her black running shorts. :-)


Here's another of their favorite things--catching (or trapping) bugs and "sciencing" (observing) them.

They've also been spending a lot of time writing and drawing! Oliver has drawn quite a few pictures of his new favorite stuffed animal, Froggy. And Buttercup draws mostly squiggles, lines, people and circles, and every once in a while she'll draw a letter or two (she's particularly fond of writing Bs!).